


Requiem for Stuck Pop Stars

by Crumby



Series: Hulks and Pop Stars [1]
Category: Castle, Chuck (TV), Fringe
Genre: Alternate Universe, Basement, CAT Squad, Curtain Call, Gen, Girl Band, Humor, Monsters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-10
Updated: 2012-11-09
Packaged: 2017-11-14 00:20:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/509328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crumby/pseuds/Crumby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>To fans' delight, the CAT Squad is reuniting for a charity concert for the first time since the band's separation. At the end of the show, the CATs' two frenemies, Sarah and Zondra, are forced by strange and unusual circumstances into spending some quality time together. Will they survive each other's company? And what is really happening?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Falling Down

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mxpw999](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mxpw999/gifts).



> Big thanks to the [Frea O'Scanlin](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Frea_O) and [katichresis](http://www.fanfiction.net/u/1717929/katichresis) for the beta.

The applause rang out in the concert hall as Sarah Walker fled backstage. The adrenaline running through her veins conflicted with her craving to leave. She couldn't wait to go home; and she also couldn't wait to go back for an encore, or, at the very least, a curtain call.

Langston Graham was waiting for the band before the hallway leading to the dressing rooms. He had taken off the jacket of his expensive suit during the show, like he always used to do. He probably wanted to talk to them about some more interviews, party invitations, and so on. It felt like that was all he'd been doing since they had gotten in town three days ago.

"Wonderful, girls!" he said.

"Thanks," Sarah replied with a terse nod. She hadn't missed her ex-manager. Riggins, the hot intern standing beside Graham, was holding out a water bottle, which was a surprise considering that it had seemed as though he'd been drinking beer twenty-four/seven for the past three days. Sarah didn't dwell on it, and she thanked the intern as she seized the bottle and kept going.

She felt like drinking an entire fountain right now.

"What's the hurry, Walker?" Zondra asked, following her into the hallway. "Too rusty to get back out there?"

"Oh, bite me!"

She heard Zondra chuckle. "We're past this, I think."

Sarah entered her dressing room and closed the door behind her. She drew in a couple of deep breaths, and tried making the pounding of her heart recede, before gulping down water. It had been more than a year now that she'd done this by herself, and even longer with the band. As natural as it had been to take the stage with her co-singers and perform in front of their fans, to dance to the rhythm of the melody and sing lyrics she could still utter in her sleep, it had also been alien and sort of unfamiliar. It may have simply been that she was out of practice, _rusty_ , but Sarah knew the break she'd taken in her musical career had changed both the artist in her and the person.

Trying to calm the euphoria created by the show, Sarah sat down on her chair. Spending her all-free time and savings on charity work, traveling the world, and hiking the highest mountains of the planet had done her good. The effort expended on a concert like this one had tired Sarah, but she wasn't anywhere near worn out. She wiped at her glistening face, careful not to mess up her mascara, before finishing her water and taking another bottle. Carina would likely pop up soon.

As if on cue, the redhead slipped inside. "So?" she said, flopping down on the sofa.

"So?"

"Doesn't this make you want to go back to the studio, and pack up for a tour across the country?" Carina asked.

Sarah smiled. She couldn't say the idea hadn't crossed her mind ever since she'd gotten here. The rehearsals, as tense as they had been, had felt great, like riding a bike again after a long injury, and tonight's concert had felt even better. As she looked at her friend, Sarah recalled the years spent on the road, the camaraderie, meeting the people who loved her music, working with musicians and technicians passionate about the music, and she could admit that she had missed it.

She had other things in her life now, however, and she still didn't know if she wanted to get back to the frenzied life of a pop star.

"It was a good show," Sarah said, nodding.

"I'm pumped!" Carina said. "We should celebrate afterwards."

"Chuck's here," Sarah told her.

"So? He can come with us."

Sarah hesitated. "Maybe. I'll ask."

"Sarah Walker," Carina said, her tone one of a tease, "don't tell me your boyfriend decides if and when you can go out with your girlfriends."

"No," Sarah replied with a laugh. "I'm just not sure that bringing him to have drinks with Zondra would be doing him any favors."

"Don't bring him, then."

"He's flown across the country to come and see me," Sarah said. "The least I can do is to actually spend some time with him, rather than letting him go back to an empty hotel room while I'm off having drinks."

"Oh, I see. You'd rather get laid," Carina said, her eyes sparkling. "You should have led with that."

The door opened, and Riggins said, "Five minutes," before closing the door again.

"Isn't he hot?" Carina said, standing up.

Sarah grabbed her phone. "I haven't noticed."

"Right," Carina said with a snort. "The show must go on. You coming?"

"I'll text Chuck," Sarah said. "See if he's up for an afterparty. I'll catch up with you."

After Carina left, Sarah frowned at her cell when she couldn't get a signal. It had worked fine before. She held the device in the air to no avail, and decided to see if she'd get more luck outside. Keeping her bottle in hand, Sarah walked down the hallway, eyes glued to her iPhone.

"What are you doing, Walker?" Zondra said, when Sarah passed her door.

"Gardening."

"They're waiting for us."

Sarah didn't stop. "I know."

"Stage's that way."

Sarah ignored her and opened the door at the rear of the hallway, entering a room with a window. Her text was ready, she just needed one little bar of signal.

Zondra walked after her, and called from the doorway, "Damn it, Walker! What do you think you're doing? Get your lazy ass to the stage!"

A crackling, distant sound distracted Sarah. It sounded like a wooden board being folded in two, but the echo was strange—electric—as though generated via mix-table. "Hear that?"

"What?" Zondra said, stepping forward. The door closed behind her. "The crowd waiting for us on the other side of this hallway?"

Sarah saw her phone screen blacked out with interferences. Before it crackled again—closer.

This time, Zondra didn't miss it. "What is it?"

"I don't know, but it's coming—"

Sarah stopped mid-sentence when she felt the floor under her feet move. It wasn't shaking the way it would during an earthquake. It just gave way. She saw Zondra sank too, and they tried to turn and run back from where they had come, but they barely managed a step. The collapse was faster than them.

"Whoa!"

The fall was quick, but the lack of gravity made Sarah's stomach seem to tingle in slow motion as empty air filled the space under her.

_Bam!_

The landing, on the other hand, was simply painful.

Sarah crashed the ground in a heap. The shock hit her coccyx and pain crept up the entirety of her back. A mass of debris followed her down. The minute air finally came back to Sarah's lungs, it sent her into a coughing fit. It hurt some more, the rumble in her body exacerbating every ache from the plunge.

She heard Zondra coughing beside her, but couldn't see her. The room was dark, the only light coming from the hole above them. Sarah craned her neck to look up. It was high. So high that the light didn't make it to the ground.

Sarah waved a hand in front of her to clear the dust. When her breathing allowed, she asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Zondra replied. She cleared her throat. "You?"

"Hurts like a bad rap song," Sarah said. "But I think I'm fine." If she wasn't planning on sitting down in the next two to three weeks, that was. It must have been the kind of ache that people who didn't take to snowboarding as rapidly as she had complained about.

"Where, in music hell, are we?" Zondra asked.

Sarah was wondering the same thing. As her eyes adjusted to the dimness, details of the room became progressively apparent. It was small, maybe a hundred and fifty square feet, and rectangular. They had fallen at one of the room extremities, next to one of the smaller walls. The walls were bare, save for a few faded posters, and consisted of old, dark cinderblocks. The worn cement on the floor didn't bring much more life to the room. There weren't any windows, but what looked like a door faced them on the opposite side.

Sarah didn't see another explanation. "Basement," she said.


	2. Underground Fun

The basement was as cozy as it had first appeared. Admittedly, it wasn't as dark once Sarah's eyes had adjusted and the cloud of dust had dissipated. She could see the body of the room, she'd noticed fissures on the walls, and she had briefly looked at the few faded posters hung to them. The air had also become less suffocating in the process. Nevertheless, the opening on the ceiling remained their only source of fresh air and only source of lighting. There _was_ a light bulb with an old pull-chain, but it wasn't in working order. That didn't stop them from trying to turn it on hundreds of times. They'd given up when it had become unlikely that they'd make it work—Zondra had ripped the chain off.

Now, Zondra was kicking what had turned out to be a sealed door, at the far end of the room. "Fucking hell!"

"You've been kicking this door for the past ten minutes," Sarah said. "I think it's clear it won't open."

"This is just _great_!"

"The feeling is mutual, but you don't have to talk my ear off about it. Quit bitching, will you?"

"Shut up!"

"Seriously?"

Even in the gloom, Sarah could perfectly make up the way Zondra glowered at her. It was murderous. It made Sarah want to laugh so much. She suppressed the impulse—just barely.

Zondra moved to the corner diagonal from Sarah, and slid against a wall, crouching down and facing Sarah. That way, they could see each other's movements, but they didn't have to _look_ at each other.

Sarah was stuck in a freaking basement with Zondra.

Of all people: _Zondra!_

Sarah really wondered which twit had taken inspiration to narrate her life and elected to torture her. Actually, she decided she'd rather be stripped naked, chained to a ceiling, and brutally tortured, than being submitted to _this_. Three days of rehearsals and one entire concert spent in the other woman's presence hadn't been enough, apparently. She had to be trapped between four walls with her for the last thirty minutes too.

Thirty minutes and counting.

"Fucking hell" didn't even start describing it.

"I don't get it," Zondra said. Sarah would have enjoyed the silence more than the brunette's voice, but she was starting to get bored. So, she listened. "Why could possibly keep them from at least reaching the hole and found us down here? This doesn't make any sense."

"Maybe the rest of the building collapsed," Sarah told her.

"As awful as it is, you know they'd look for us first. Graham would see to it."

"Maybe they can't make it to the room."

"Maybe."

Sarah stretched out her legs in front of her, and pushed on the heap of debris with her bare feet to get sufficient space. She and Zondra had kicked off their heels after the fall. Despite the ache in her coccyx, Sarah had been tired of walking in circles, so she'd sat, mindful of the bruised tailbone.

"We've survived in smaller quarters," she said. "We just have to wait it out. They'll come."

"Who did you have to call so urgently anyway?" Zondra asked.

"None of your business."

"It got me stuck with you here, the least you could do is tell me why we're stuck together in the first place."

"I'll tell you why," Sarah said. "You couldn't mind your own business then either, and just had to follow me around to tell me—as if the show we'd just performed in front of thousands of people hadn't been any indication—that we had to go back for the curtain call."

"If you'd been doing your job for once," Zondra said, "instead of calling one of your conquests, I wouldn't have had to."

"Conquests?"

Zondra shrugged. "That's my story, since you won't tell."

Silence lapsed. There was no point in continuing the discussion. Their disagreements weren't anything new. Sarah's gaze turned to the wall in front of her, and she squinted at a _Star Wars_ poster.

Something felt off about it. Sarah wasn't a specialist on the series, far from it, but Chuck had made her watch all of it. He had even organized movie nights with his sister or his best friend, sometimes both, to prevent Sarah from distracting him when she got bored. She didn't recognize the image from Chuck's DVDs and toys, or recalled seeing this couple at that age, or for the young woman to be in the same movies for that matter. Wasn't the brunette from the most recent trilogy? Now that she was paying closer attention, Sarah leaned forward in order to be able to read the whole title. _Ugh_. Had Chuck not told her that there was an Episode VII? Oh, God. What if there was _another_ trilogy and Chuck had kept it from Sarah so that he could ambush her into watching? If he did, she'd have to take him to a metal concert again as—maybe payback was too strong a word—reciprocation.

Sarah checked her phone for the bajillionth time. There was still no signal, but she had managed to switch it back on. Thirty-three minutes. Zondra was right: What could possibly keep the rescue away for so long? Could they not have heard the collapse? Sarah was dubious, and anybody working on the concert, from Amy and Carina to the janitors, knew there were just no way Sarah and Zondra would have gone off together by choice. Personal problems notwithstanding, they were professionals. They'd been supposed to go back on stage minutes from when they got stuck. Sarah had told Carina she was coming. _Someone_ must have been looking for them. The room they had fallen from would be logically one of the first places to start. Yet, they hadn't heard a thing. No door opening, no voices, and now that Sarah was thinking about it—no sound whatsoever.

The ruckus from the crowd was always something that invaded this music venue. Even backstage, there was a constant buzz—light, but present. One would think it would buzz underneath the building too, but all Sarah could hear right now was an eerie silence, which niggled at her the more aware of it she became.

Her bottle of water suddenly felt heavy in her hand, and she set it beside her, thinking it might be a good idea not to drink it all too fast—spare it, in case they'd be here a while.

That was a depressing thought. They would probably kill each other if it lasted too long.

"Heard the Carnivals are releasing a new album this fall," Zondra said.

Sarah chuckled despite herself. The Carnivals were so done. Granted, it wasn't as if they had been anything good to begin with. "Are they, really?"

"So, you didn't know?" Zondra asked. "I would have thought one of your pals there had told you."

"Seems to me that you're the one with the information."

Zondra snorted and shook her head, looking away again. Sarah had always wondered why Zondra had done it. The world of pop music was full of greedy and calculating people. Success and money created so-called friendships by the buckets, and trustworthy people were scarce. Sarah had seen the phone stop ringing not long after her decision to take a break from music. She had voluntarily kept away from the media too, and generally speaking, people forgot quickly. Celebrity needs to be cultivated. She was glad for it, though, as the people who had stayed were the ones she knew she could count on now.

Sarah used to think Zondra was one of them. Perhaps, she was. Perhaps, she hadn't done it. Sarah couldn't help hoping deep down that she'd been mistaken, in spite of the signs pointing to the contrary.

"His name's Chuck," Sarah said.

"Um?" Zondra asked.

"I was calling Chuck."

"People still name their kid Chuck?"

Sarah suppressed the annoyance provoked by the remark—and its source. She had made the same joke, once. Once, "That's what I said!" would have been the first thing she'd have said to Zondra and they would have shared a laugh. That had been a long time ago—before Zondra had betrayed the CAT Squad and their friendship by leaking their lyrics and compositions to the enemy: The Carnivals. And it reminded Sarah why they had never managed to patch things up: every time they talked, reality of what had happened resurfaced—and it hurt.

Since Sarah didn't say anything, Zondra asked, "Who's Chuck?"

"A friend."

"Ah," Zondra said, knowingly. She didn't know a thing, though. "So I was right."

It might have been better for him not to be brought into this. Chuck and Sarah had been happy not publicizing their relationship, and judging by the constant scandals in anything "celebrities," they were reminded quite often why. Sarah let the insinuation pass.

Outside the basement, they heard a scratching noise.

Sarah stood up and couldn't help but grimace at the pain.

"Tell me there aren't rats in this basement," Zondra said.

Approaching the wall in front of her, Sarah strained her ears. Once again, she had a strange feeling about the sound, like the electric echo that had preceded the collapse. She couldn't describe what it was, but the scratching sound was unnatural.

The hair on the back of her neck rose. She suddenly felt assailed of survival instincts, instincts she hadn't had to use since her dad's last con. Her senses were on alert. It was an odd, unpleasant experience.

"Something's not right," Sarah said.

"Glad you're finally coming to that realization," Zondra replied. Her words might have played it cool, but her tone didn't have her aplomb.

They shared a look, apprehension creeping at Sarah, until Zondra spoke again. "I hope he's great in the sack."

"Excuse me?"

" _Chuck_ ," Zondra said. "I hope he's great in the sack."

Unbelievable! There were some kind of weird... _stuff_ happening, and all Zondra could do was trying to get to her.

"I'm sure his girlfriend's very satisfied," Sarah said, touching the wall in front of her. She didn't really want to be patting against it, but what else were there to do? She used her phone as a light. "But I don't see how their love life would be relevant to our situation."

The wall was just cold, like the cement had been—and gross.

Zondra snorted. "Says the woman who was making her booty call right before this happened."

"For the love of pop music, Chuck isn't my 'conquest.'" Sarah felt the need to use air quotes as she went on, creating motions of lights and shadows in the room with her iPhone. "And whether or not he's 'great in the sack' is none of your business."

"So you've slept with him," Zondra said. "Did he dump you for that girlfriend of his and break your little heart?" Zondra almost smiled as though finding comfort in the image. What had Sarah ever done to her, honestly?

The scratching seemed to somehow roll against the length of the wall, in the direction of where Zondra was sitting.

Sarah followed it, straining her ears once more. "Something's behind that wall."

Zondra didn't listen. She snorted again. "I forgot. That would mean you have a heart."

"Wow, of the two of us, you're calling me heartless?"

Zondra rose to her feet and faced Sarah. "Who else?"

"You're unbelievable," Sarah said, and ran her fingers through her hair. It _stuck_. A mix of sweat and dust had seen to that.

"Of the two of us," Zondra said, mocking Sarah's previous words, "you're calling me unbelievable?"

Sarah rolled her eyes.

"For all I know," Zondra went on, "your Chuck could be ransacking my dressing room right know, and this whole thing's a stunt."

"Ransacking your room? For what, cocaine?" It was a low blow, Sarah knew it. She had read all about the rumors of Zondra's addiction, and she didn't believe it. But, she was annoyed.

"Watch your mouth," Zondra said.

Tapping.

There was tapping against the sealed door now.

Zondra spun toward the door as Sarah said, "We need to get out of here."

She could only see Zondra's profile, but the brunette visibly swallowed. "No kidding."

"I'm serious," Sarah said, looking up at the ceiling.

The tapping intensified—quicker, stronger. The echo as disturbed as all precedent noises had been.

"Hop up," Sarah told Zondra, moving beneath the hole. "I'll heave you."

"I'm not going to be able to lift you by myself when I get up there."

"Then you'll have to look for help," Sarah said. "C'mon!"

"Why should I be the one going?"

"Honestly?" Sarah asked in disbelief. "Fine, if you want to stay and wait here, I'll go."

Sarah wasn't very intent on staying there, but of the two of them, Zondra was wearing the most appropriate outfit for the task. Sarah's golden dress was pretty—and she rocked it—but the gown had been meant for a concert, not an underground interlude. She sort of envied Zondra's black leather suit for a second. The brunette looked a little like Catwoman, though they hadn't sung that tune tonight, but more importantly, it was more practical.

"N-no," Zondra said. "I'll go."

After pushing around debris, Sarah squatted so that Zondra could climb up on her shoulders. Once the brunette was safely sitting, Sarah stood up carefully. Zondra grabbed the edge of the floor above, and lifted herself enough to get her feet to rest on Sarah's shoulders.

"You've put on some weight," Sarah said, her voice strained with the effort. She shifted when Zondra's second foot reached her left shoulder.

"Whoa," Zondra said, drawing out the sound. "Don't do that."

Sarah gritted her teeth as she kept wobbling. "Doing my best here. I didn't think of eating my spinach before the show."

She managed to step back into place, and felt Zondra move, but couldn't see exactly what she was doing. Sarah decided to focus on the wall facing her. The tapping had stopped, she realized.

And then, Zondra jumped. Pain ran through Sarah's shoulders, and the movement of her band co-member threw off her balance. She fell on her backside again.

"Damn it, that hurts."

Sarah looked up to see one of Zondra's feet dangling. Her other knee had made it to the floor, and Zondra groaned in pain as she pushed herself forward. She'd made it.

Zondra disappeared from view for a few seconds, until her head peered through the opening. "I won't be long," she said.

With her chest rising and falling hard from panting, Sarah nodded, though she wasn't sure Zondra could see her. The brunette vanished. Sarah heard a few steps, and the creak of a door moving on its hinges. "What the…" Zondra said, before Sarah heard some more of the brunette's grumbling as the woman seemed to walk away.

Silence fell.

Sarah was immediately aware of being alone. Zondra's company was a pain, but it had been company.

Now, Sarah was left alone with her senses in overloading disarray, and the only sound in the room was her own heavy breathing.

Until, noises came back on the other side of the door.


	3. Monstrous Escape

Sarah scrambled to her feet.

She heard a ripping sound as she did, and looked down at her dress to see that the hem had caught on the debris. _Great_. Sarah tugged on the debris still tangled with the dress, taking a section of fabric with it.

A thin layer of sweat reappeared on her forehead. Sarah looked around her one more time out of stupid reflexes to feeling trapped, but the basement hadn't changed out of the sudden. How inconvenient.

The scratching restarted anew. There wasn't much of the disturbed, electric tone left to it; now it only sounded raw. Whatever was on the other side of that door, it was looking for a way into this basement, scraping along its walls, it sounded like.

A violent blow against the door made Sarah jolt. She screamed in surprise.

She heard quick, loud steps upstairs. Holy musical hell, something else was coming for her.

After a thud, like something had been hurled on the floor above, someone spoke, "Everything okay, down there?"

Zondra! Of course, it was Zondra. How messed up could Sarah's day be for her to be glad to hear her CAT Squad frenemy's voice?

"Something's trying to get in," Sarah said, not hiding the alarm in her voice. Was it even her voice? Her throat was so tight, she wondered how she'd managed to talk at all. She swallowed.

"I'll be back, okay?"

"Wait, no!" Sarah said when the loneness wrapped around her once more, in an uneasy sensation. She shivered. "Where are you going?"

There was no response.

"Ugh." Sarah ran her hands in her hair and wished she had a hair band to tie it.

Time was so slow. Nothing had ever been that slow before in her life, and that was saying something. Sarah had watched one of those endless Hobbit movies once.

The noises came and went, but every time they resumed, they seemed louder. It was nerve-wracking. Sarah didn't know how long she stayed here, listening closely to every sound, and trying to get a hold of her breathing, of the pounding of her heart in her chest, of the stiffness running through her muscles.

And Zondra came back. "Okay, I'm here," she said. "Get away from the hole, I'm gonna throw you something."

Sarah didn't want to. It meant she had to get closer to the dimness, closer to the sealed door, closer to the noises. She edged back, tensing with every step.

"Are you out of the way?" Zondra asked.

"Y-yes," Sarah said. "Hurry!"

A wooden chair fell down. What the hell? It wasn't tall enough to get her to the hole.

"I know it's not tall enough," Zondra said, "but that's all I've got." Sarah's stomach fell. "The ladder was too short, so you'll have to put it down on top of the chair rather than the ground."

Ladder? Hope regained Sarah.

"Walker? Hey, Sarah? It's gonna be fine. Now get out of here before that thing comes back."

"Why are you alone?" Sarah asked. "Where is everybody?"

"I don't know," Zondra said. "There's nobody else up here."

"What do you mean there's nobody else?"

"It's just you and me."

"But the place was full less than an hour ago!"

"I know!" Zondra said, and exhaled loudly. "I know, and now it's empty. I don't know what to tell you. Now, get up here!"

They were alone.

How was that even possible? The concert hall had been crammed full of people—fans, journalists, technicians, musicians, Graham, Amy, Carina, Chuck... Chuck! He had been in the crowd. Where had he gone?

The room shrank. Sarah swore it lost fifty square feet at once.

They were alone.

"Sarah, come on. Climb up here before worrying about this."

Sarah drew in a couple of cleansing breaths, and nodded to herself. "Okay."

She straightened the chair, and looked up. Zondra looked back down at her. The brunette forced a smile. She was clearly tense, but she was _here_.

Sarah used the debris to lock the chair's feet in place before Zondra lifted down a rusted ladder. It took a few tries of positioning, but Sarah managed to get the foot of the ladder stable on top of the chair's seat and against its back, while the ladder's end was set against the above floor through the hole.

Once the ladder steadied, Sarah climbed up on the chair. It creaked. Holy scherzando, it would never hold. She waved the thought away, and climbed onto the first rung.

Of course, _of course_ , the pounding on the door resumed at that moment. It was more violent now. The sealed door wasn't going to hold any more than the chair and ladder were. Zondra had obviously come to the same conclusions, and she extended her hands to Sarah when she arrived within reach. Sarah took them gratefully, and readied herself to push on one last rung before she'd be able to reach the floor. She did, but not completely, as the chair gave way and slipped.

Zondra had anticipated it. She pulled on Sarah's arms so roughly that Sarah visualized her arms getting out of their shoulder's sockets. Sarah flew up and forward. She unceremoniously landed on top of Zondra, whose effort had brought her to lie on her back. They both groaned. Panting heavily, Sarah rolled off of her co-singer.

Then Zondra burst out laughing. It was the stress, Sarah knew, but she couldn't help but be annoyed even as she felt her own lips curl upward. She couldn't contain it. Zondra's laugh had always been pretty infectious in any circumstance, and adding to a day as ridiculous as this one, there were no resistance possible.

Though unnerving, the knocking had become somewhat of a usual background sound. The wood crackling—which Sarah supposed came for the sealed door—that went with it next hadn't.

The laughter died instantly. The door was being shoved in.

"We need to go," Zondra said.

They got up like old women—very, very old women. Sarah would have commented on it, but damn it, that was painful. She didn't want to think of how sore she'd be later. That was, if there was a later.

For the first time since she had made it to this floor, Sarah took in the room she was in. It resembled the one Zondra and she had been in before, only...slightly different. It was older, worn—abandoned.

"What happened here?" Sarah asked, as the pounding below followed them out of the room.

"Weird, huh?" Zondra said.

They made it to the stage quickly. It wasn't the same as Sarah remembered it. The main hall looked more like a theater, though it _was_ the same room where the CAT Squad had had their concert an hour or so ago. It was furnished differently. Sarah frowned as the view felt familiar, but she couldn't place it. She raked her brain even as she and Zondra jumped off the stage, and kept walking through old theater seats toward the exit.

"It looks like one of these pictures from the thirties," Sarah said. "You know, in the VIP lounge."

Zondra's brows furrowed. "Huh, you're right," she said, before pausing. "So what, you're telling me we went back in time?"

"No," Sarah said with a brief laugh. That was ridiculous. "Time travel, really? If a blue phone booth shows up..."

"What?"

"Oh nothing." Sarah shook her head. "I don't understand anything to it either. Brits..."

Zondra ignored Sarah's babbling. She tapped a chair and dust, that seemed to have built up here for centuries, plumed out in the air. "Everything looks so old, it feels like it was abandoned after the thirties."

"Yeah," Sarah said. Something had obviously happened and where was everybody? Were they okay? "You think Amy and Carina are all right?"

"I'm sure Chuck is fine," Zondra said.

Sarah would have retorted something, but Zondra wasn't wrong, Sarah was worried about Chuck too. Plus, they made it to the main entrance.

It was locked.

Alarm tore at Sarah again.

She had tried to keep calm by telling herself they would escape somehow. Only, they were stuck inside the entire concert hall, or theater, whatever this place was. And some...thing was coming for them.

On cue, an enormous muffled splashing sound resonated all around them.

"Stage door," Zondra said, pushing on Sarah's back to get her to move.

As one, they jogged in that direction. Her heart was pounding in her head, and Sarah couldn't think of anything else than getting out. She couldn't even think of how she would do that. Getting out was her only thought.

She was screwed.

Roaring—literal, feral roaring—pierced the air.

Zondra looked over her shoulder. Sarah didn't dare to.

"It's coming," Zondra said, and she pushed Sarah again without warning, this time to the side.

Sarah kept her balance out of sheer willpower—she wasn't falling down on her butt for the third time this evening. Out of a reflex she didn't know she possessed, she dropped down to the hallway floor, joining Zondra in her crouching position between an armchair and the wall.

They were so close, Sarah could feel the heat radiating from the brunette, her gasps for air as intense as Sarah's.

"Get down," Sarah hissed, when Zondra tried to peek above the armchair. But she couldn't resist the chance to take a peek for herself—a big mistake. Oh, God. Sarah caught a glimpse of a... _thing_. She couldn't really describe it with any other word. It definitely wasn't human. It was bigger, reminding Sarah of that greenish hyper muscular superhero that she had seen in one of Chuck's comic books. It looked as enraged too, his breathing ragged and inhumanly hoarse.

"A monster?" Zondra said. "Are you _kidding_ me?"

The thing's—the monster's breathing stopped. It had heard Zondra's whisper.

"Run!" Sarah shouted as she got up to her feet. She grabbed Zondra's hand to pull her along, and they started sprinting.

They made it to the second exit, to no avail. The door wasn't any more unlocked than the main entrance. They really were stuck inside of the concert hall with a monster.

A monster, which was approaching toward them, clearly furious. It let out another roar, and Sarah imagined that it would just eat them alive. If they were lucky, maybe, and it wasn't the type to play with its food. How in musical hell had they gotten themselves into this? They had just wanted to put on a reunion concert! Graham had! It hadn't even been Sarah's idea!

Gun shots pealed.

The monster went down with a terrifying howl, first on all four, and it straightened like that guy who was raised by monkeys and could swing from vine to vine, intent on getting to them. It made a few monkey steps, before falling down on its side under some other shots, but it was still moving. The bullets wounds distracted it long enough, however, for a blonde woman in her thirties to appear seemingly out of nowhere. Well, Sarah corrected, out of nowhere and the hallway on their right.

The woman's hair was tied in a ponytail, and bounced on her back as she ran toward Sarah and Zondra. She was wearing jeans and a brown leather jacket on top of a dark blue sweater. Oh, and she had a gun. Judging by the monster rolling on the floor in pain, she knew how to use that gun too.

Either the question running through Sarah's mind was made very apparent by her facial expression, or the blonde was used to this kind of situation. Maybe both, though Sarah really didn't want to think about _more_ monsters. In any case, the woman wasn't a delirious fan who came to terminate the CAT Squad.

"Hello, ladies. Agent Dunham," she told them. "FBI."


	4. Meet the Fringe Division

Agent Dunham, FBI agent, was kind of a badass. Sarah and Zondra rapidly found out as much.

Of course, they'd met her right after the agent had shot a hyper muscular giant monster, which had looked very much like it wanted to devour Sarah and Zondra at the time—or at anytime, really.

So it wasn't much of a surprise.

While the blonde agent had introduced herself and had made it very clear that the two pop stars should do exactly what she said if they wanted to survive—though she'd been very nice about it—the monster had vanished. Or rather, it had fled the scene, judging by the trail of blue substance it had left behind.

Sarah assumed it was blood, but maybe there was a more accurate word. Oh, for singing out loud, Sarah realized after wondering about the right terminology for a few seconds, she'd spent way too much time with Chuck and his best friend. Next she'll be asking Zondra and Agent Dunham about sandwiches. "Blood" would have to do.

Agent Dunham was currently following the creature's blood trail to inside the main theater hall, and had asked the two singers to stay on her heels. It was so strange, it kind of felt like being a camera crew following a cop around for a documentary—or Sarah would imagine. The FBI agent's movements were precise. They looked deadly too.

As its shining personality had proved before, both in the basement and outside, the monster was equipped with high brutality—but luckily, not high intelligence. When it decided to step out of hiding next to the stage and make its attack, Agent Dunham was ready for it.

The monster shattered a few seats as it hurtled towards them, the pieces flying around.

As far as Sarah could tell, the FBI agent didn't even blink. She shot the monster multiple times the way she had done before. It was relentless. Blue blood spattered around as the creature barked in atrocious pain with every bullet.

But it kept going—that was its brutal side.

Agent Dunham didn't back down. She grabbed a huge piece of theater seat on the floor, and hit the creature with it. The object fragmented into a million pieces at the blow. Then, the blonde kicked the monster hard in its belly. This gave her enough time to reload her gun. And she shot the creature again, and again, and again.

Until it fell, stopped moving, and died.

Yeah, Agent Dunham was totally badass.

The agent's shoulders loosened, and she cleared her throat, huffing. "You okay?"

"Y-yeah," Zondra replied.

"What was it?" Sarah asked. "Is it dead-dead?" Chuck liked zombie movies, among (many) others. It wasn't helping Sarah, right at this moment, to think about the walking dead.

"It's dead," Agent Dunham said with confidence. "And, you don't want to know."

Then, three things happened in rapid succession.

First, people with guns blasted through the door. Second, someone shouted, "Freeze! Fringe Division! Hands up!" Third, people with guns were all around them.

Agent Dunham didn't look impressed, though just like Sarah and Zondra she heaved her hands in front of her.

"Dunham?" a woman with long, dark red hair asked. "What are you doing here?"

Sarah froze. Not that she'd been moving a lot, what with the people and the guns. What the heck was going on? This woman looked exactly like Agent Dunham—it wasn't just a resemblance, they were _twin_ -alike.

She didn't have the formal look one could expect on an agent, based on TV and movies knowledge, which Sarah had arguably a limited knowledge of anyway, so what did she know? The woman's hair was tucked in her black leather jacket, which was short enough to let her belt in appearance, and covered a red t-shirt. Her dark grey pants were tucked in her boots, and some kind of ID card was hanging over her right pocket.

"Oh, hey," Agent Dunham said. "There's been another universe breach."

Universe?

"Third time in a month," a man approaching said. He had short blonde hair, and his gun was already back on his holster around his right thigh. His beige pants, too, were tucked in his boots, and a black t-shirt was left apparent by his open jacket. "Agent Dunham," he greeted with nods, "ma'am."

Sarah, like Zondra, nodded back, but stayed silent. This was so surreal.

"Captain Lee," Agent Dunham said.

"Civilians?" her twin asked, and put her gun away.

Agent Dunham inclined her head positively. "Not from here, they were taken by the breach, and then attacked by…" She pointed her thumb over her shoulder in direction of the monster.

Captain Lee and Agent Dunham's redheaded twin grimaced, as another agent with brown hair and a slight scar on his left cheek—Sarah didn't want to know whether he got it fighting another monster—approached. Agent Dunham greeted him as Agent Francis before carrying on, "You'll want to direct your team underground; the creature came from the basement backstage."

Captain Lee glanced at Agent Francis, who nodded and left with an "On it" and a hand lifting to his ear on what looked like a strange earbud device.

"It looks different," Agent Dunham's look-alike said, studying the monster lying on the ground.

"Whoever is doing this seems to be experimenting," Agent Dunham said. "That was Walter's theory to explain why the first two creatures weren't identical either."

"What does he say about the breach?" Captain Lee asked.

"He doesn't know yet." Agent Dunham lifted her arms in the air, shrugging. "Something to do with physics."

"Figures," her twin replied, before exchanging a look with Captain Lee, who seemed to share her amusement. "You got here fast. You were already on the scene?"

"Yeah," Agent Dunham said. "We were at a concert. This place's still in use at home."

Home?

The twin—Red Dunham—gave Sarah and Zondra a look over. Out of context, they must be looking ridiculous, Sarah in her ripped golden dress and Zondra in her leather suit, and Sarah wasn't sure the agent had recognized them considering her question about their civilian status.

"I blame Peter," Blonde Dunham kept on. "I let slip once that I was a CAT Squad fan, and he drags me to their reunion concert."

"At least it was for charity," Zondra said, a hint of offense in her tone.

People around them had bestirred themselves away as soon as Agent Dunham had been identified, and they had mostly disappeared from the main hall after Agent Francis' departure. They were circulating around, obviously knowing what they were doing, and Sarah supposed setting what TV cops called a perimeter.

"Where's Carina?" Captain Lee asked.

So he did know who they were.

The Dunham twins turned to him, lifting an eyebrow in a motion that was spookily similar.

"What?" he said. "She's always been my favorite. No offense."

"None taken," Zondra replied, before muttering to Sarah, "something tells me he's got it bad for redheads."

Sarah smiled. She'd noticed it too. "Amy and Carina weren't with us when it happened," she told him.

Captain Lee looked surprised. "Wait, Amy's still in the band?"

Sarah frowned. "Why wouldn't she be?"

"She got kicked out of the band years ago here," Captain Lee said. Sarah had no idea what it meant—what was "here"?—but her stomach tightened nonetheless. "Press said that she leaked some songs to another band manager or something."

"Augusto Gaez?" Sarah asked. The name left a sour taste in her mouth, and she heard Zondra growl.

"I couldn't tell you," Captain Lee said.

"That bitch!"

The agents were taken aback by Zondra's outburst for a second, but now wasn't exactly the time to settle the old differences of a dissolved pop girl band.

"So what's the plan?" Red Dunham asked.

"I crossed over to make sure Ms. Rizzo and Ms. Walker were safe, once we were told they were missing," Blonde Dunham said. "With the previous incidents, we opted not to take any chances."

"Well," Captain Lee said with a smile, "you caught it first."

"Walter should already be working on a portal from our side, since I can only cross over alone," Blonde Dunham went on, "and we'll be out of your way."

A portal?

Sarah felt like she was in one of those movies or TV shows Chuck watched. At least, there weren't any space cowboys. Or robots that looked human—wait, maybe the Dunham twins were, what were they called, Cylons? They seemed too nice for that. Sarah decided the next movie she and Chuck watched would be a lame, uneventful romantic comedy.

"Why not just take the bridge?" Red Dunham asked.

"Too long," Blonde Dunham said. "We didn't have time for authorization and cutting red tape." She paused for a second, slightly tilting her head as if pondering something. "And I think Walter wanted to test his new toy."

It seemed that Captain Lee and Red Dunham found the logic reasonable—while Sarah was only perplexed—because they only nodded. Captain Lee gave some instructions around to what Sarah had figured by now was his team, checking up with Agent Francis as well, and turned to Red Dunham. "I'll stay to inspect the body. You go with Agent Dunham. Standard protocol applies for our findings?" he asked Blonde Dunham.

"Yes," she replied. "Goodbye, Captain Lee." She turned to her twin. "The room where Walter's setting up the portal's that way." She jerked her head. "If you'll follow us," she told Sarah and Zondra, before starting walking alongside her redheaded look-alike.

Sarah and Zondra said their goodbyes and followed.

"Chuck's gonna love this," Sarah said with a shake of her head.

"Why?" Zondra asked.

"First a monster, now a portal..."

"Ugh," Zondra said in disgust, "don't tell me you got yourself a nerd, Walker?"

Sarah only smiled and they kept walking. "It probably isn't real, anyway, right?"

"Right," Zondra said. "Being stuck in a basement with you would likely result in insanity."

Sarah chuckled and bumped her shoulder against Zondra's.

They arrived back in the room where everything had started. The opening on the floor was larger than before. The monster must have ripped off more floor when it had come out.

Red Dunham lifted some kind of science-fiction-y device in the air. "Woo, Walter must be ecstatic."

Who the heck was this Walter?

Blonde Dunham confirmed. Around, from what Sarah could tell, people who looked more like scientists, or these CSI guys, than agents now came to inspect the room and the basement. The FBI agent assured Sarah and Zondra it wouldn't take too long, and they waited, the two twins chitchatting together at first, but soon the CATs joined in.

It turned out that Olivia, as the redhead had insisted on being called, was a CAT Squad fan as well. She had said that Lincoln should never know, and Sarah assumed she was talking about Captain Lee. After a while, the four women had relived the entire career of the band, from their first single _Sex on the Beach_ to their last _CAT's PJs_. Except that apparently, Red Olivia's band had become a trio after the incident with Amy and Gaez, instead of separating. They had released two more albums, and were working on a new one to be out the next year. Sarah and Bryce Larkin had therefore never duetted on _We'll always have Omaha_ or _Mr. & Mrs. Anderson_, and the single that had launched Sarah's solo career, _Rocky Road Dreams_ , had never been released.

For the umpteenth time, Sarah wondered just how bad she must have banged her head in her fall. Everything that had happened so far was utterly insane. Now, they were chatting with two Fringe Division agents who looked identical _and_ had the exact same name, one from the FBI and the other from the Department of Defense of a place which apparently was not in the same _universe_ , in the wait for a portal to appear apparently out of thin air. Oh no, Walter was setting the portal up. Sure, that made more sense.

What made even less sense was that after a little while, a portal _did_ appear.

"Your ride's here," Red Olivia said.

Sarah's only source of relief was to see her distraught reflected perfectly on Zondra's face.

It looked like a window into something. The view was befogged, like when you look right above a radiator in winter and the heat is blurring the air. But Sarah could still see something on the other side. She was pretty sure she recognized Chuck too.

"It's going to tingle a little," Blonde Olivia said, "but you'll be fine, I promise."

So, after sharing a look, Sarah and Zondra swapped hands with Red Olivia—a little sadly too, because the woman was nice and fun and sort of adorable—and they followed Blonde Olivia through the portal.


	5. Back to Home Universe

Sarah and Zondra had crossed over universes.

That was the honest-to-musical-god explanation they had been given. Not officially, because they'd been asked to sign papers in triplicate about never mentioning this experience to other people again, but the agents of the FBI Fringe Division had been serious.

A breach between their universe and another had provoked Sarah and Zondra's fall into the basement—well, into the other universe's basement, because Sarah wasn't even sure the basement was the same over here. There wasn't any hole on the floor.

Upon crossing over, Olivia, Sarah, and Zondra had been welcomed back by the Fringe team with two EMTs, along with Amy, Carina, Chuck, Graham, a New York Police Department officer, and a famous writer.

Chuck, who hadn't left Sarah's side since she'd come back, watching her like a hawk as though he was afraid she'd vanish any minute, had brought her up to speed on what had happened on this side.

Following Sarah and Zondra's curious disappearance before the curtain call, Carina had sensed that something hadn't been right. Sarah and Zondra would never have left together—especially not together—instead of going back to the stage, and not to mention, without taking anything with them. Their dressing rooms had been left intact. After checking with Chuck, Carina had alerted a friend of hers in the audience. She knew Richard Castle, the writer, was working with a NYPD officer named Kate Beckett. They were probably dating too, Sarah figured, considering they had come together to the concert. In any case, Detective Beckett, as a favor to Castle, had accepted to non-officially look around about the disappearance.

Chuck had said he thought Kate, like he was calling her, had been pretty territorial upon the first minutes of her meeting Carina, and he suspected that Carina and "Rick" had been a thing. If Chuck had picked up on all that, it must have been pretty obvious. It was a shame that Sarah had missed this, Carina's run in with her exes' current significant others had always been fun.

The detective, whose hair was clearly made out of hair porn—seriously, no wonder she'd become Castle's muse per Carina's gossiping, her hair alone would be worth writing books about—had rapidly agreed that there were something spooky about Sarah and Zondra's vanishing. She hadn't had too much time to wonder about it, however, because Olivia and her boyfriend, Peter Bishop, had then come to take over the investigation. Detective Beckett had not been happy to see a secretive FBI duo granting themselves the case in _her_ town, from what Chuck had told Sarah, and the detective had asked for explanations.

Olivia and Peter had explained that they didn't have much time. They had agreed to keep Detective Beckett and her partner in the loop, if she helped them keep the matter private, and a compromise was made, so that the two remaining CAT Squad members, their manager, and Chuck could stay as well.

From there, Chuck had said it had all gone pretty fast, and after a call to the famous Walter, who turned out to also be Peter's father, Olivia had disappeared too. Then Walter and another FBI agent named Farnsworth had arrived to work on what they'd called a portal, followed by the two EMTs in case Sarah and Zondra had been hurt.

That must have been the part that had freaked out Chuck. He was still clutching at Sarah's hand tightly beside her, instead of geeking out. He'd discussed details quite thoroughly with Peter and Castle, but he should be geeking out _more_. From what Sarah had been exposed to, she figured this was a nerd dream! Except for the "monsters are real" part. And the real bullets.

Sarah had tried to play down the whole scared-out-of-her-mind-stuck-in-an-old-theatre-basement thing, but Zondra's tale hadn't help. And in spite of the fact that Olivia seemed rather used to deal with incidents such as this one, she hadn't been casual about the threat the two pop stars had been facing.

It was the only reason that had compelled Sarah to mention the _Star Wars_ poster to her boyfriend. Though she probably would have mentioned it eventually, because she was just weak. She had asked Red Olivia about them, after all.

"How can Natalie Portman be in the same movies than an older Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford?" Chuck's brows were furrowed in incomprehension, but Sarah had no idea what to tell him. She had barely managed to describe the characters on the poster to begin with.

Red Olivia had explained that a group of scatters had been using the underground facilities before they'd been expelled and the place had been sealed, which would explain how there had been posters of recent movies inside the basement. So Episode VII was real over there.

"She played Jaina Solo," Peter said.

Chuck's neck twisted. "Jaina Solo," he repeated. From the wheels Sarah could hear spinning in his head, Chuck was obviously imagining all the ramifications to that information. He was adorable.

"This sounds awesome!" Castle said.

"They never did the prequels over there," Peter explained. "Instead, they made sequels. The poster you saw was probably for _Episode VII: Rise of the Republic_." He paused, a smile tucking at his lips. "Han Solo still shoots first."

"This is so unfair!" Chuck said.

"Agreed," Castle said

Peter laughed, but he gave an "I know, right?!" expression.

"Though," Walter said, looking up from his ministrations, "it appears that they never made the children cartoon about the sponge." He sounded as if it restored some kind of cosmic balance in injustice. "It's Gene's favorite," he went on, and his tone grew worried. "What does the other Gene watch when she's stressed?"

"We've talked about this, Walter," Peter said.

"You're quite right, son, and you've never given me an answer."

"Walter," Agent Farnsworth said, and she glanced at Peter with mirth, "the device is ready."

"Oh, wonderful!" Walter seemed to forget all about sponges. "Alto, I believe that you are going to enjoy the experience."

"You always do," Agent Farnsworth said. "Perhaps, we should wait for the civilians to be out of the room."

Walter seemed disappointed at the prospect of not sharing his experience with them, but he nodded his assent with more enthusiasm when Olivia told him that it was preferable, but that _she_ couldn't wait to watch.

This FBI team was so strange.

Castle joined Walter in obvious excitement, visibly engrossed by the whole experience. He'd signed the paper too, however. He wouldn't be writing about this.

"So wait," Zondra said, turning to Peter, "you brought your father with you on a date?"

They were all trying to come to grasp with the situation in different ways, it seems. Sarah had been more confused by the "alternate universe/Hulk monster" aspect of things than Olivia and Peter's dating life, but what did she know?

"What?" Peter said. "No." He laughed. "Walter was still in Boston."

"In Boston?" Zondra said in direction of Agent Farnsworth and Walter. "How did you get here so fast?"

"He has a TARDIS suitcase," Peter said.

Sarah had no idea what that meant, but she saw Chuck's eyes bogged out in delight. "Cool," he said.

Peter laughed again. "No, Astrid and Walter came by helicopter."

Sarah supposed Astrid was Agent Farnsworth's first name, but she couldn't be sure considering Walter seemed to use a different moniker for her every time.

"They let me ride shotgun this time!" Walter said.

"They did?" Peter told him. "At least someone hasn't wasted his evening."

"Indeed, son." Father and son shared an amused look, and Walter offered Peter a red candy, before going back to whatever scientific inspection he was doing with Agent Farnsworth and the multiple agents that had since invaded the room.

It had to be the strangest FBI team around, right?

"Okay, you're good to go," one of the EMTs told Sarah. They had released Zondra a few minutes before. No harm done, though they'd been in need of rehydration.

Sarah thanked him as she saw Carina come to what looked like an agreement with Castle.

"Still up for that afterparty?" Carina asked in direction of her co-singers.

"Oh, yay!" Amy said cheerfully. "It's been so long since we've partied together."

 _And whose fault is that?_ Sarah thought bitterly. They hadn't mentioned what they'd learned from Captain Lee yet, but from the look Zondra was throwing at Amy, the brunette hadn't forgotten either. Plus, Amy was so perky. After what they'd gone through, it tired Sarah just thinking of an entire night of this.

"Ugh," Sarah groaned. "I want a long shower first."

"Seconded," Zondra said.

"You two seem on good terms," Carina told them. Though she didn't ask, the question was implied in her tone.

Sarah and Zondra shared a look.

"Yeah, about that." Sarah stood up, pulling Chuck with her by the hand. "Graham," she called.

Their ex-manager had been discussing with Olivia and Detective Beckett in a corner. He turned to her. "Yes?"

"Amy was the mole," Sarah said.

"She leaked the songs to Gaez," Zondra carried on.

Silence fell over the room, before Carina all but growled a "What?" as Graham approached. "Why?" Carina asked.

Amy looked like she wanted to deny it all in a moment.

"I'm too tired to care," Sarah said. "So I propose that we let Graham deal with this."

Sarah wasn't asking him. She didn't care about what her ex-manager had to say either. She agreed to one concert because it was for a good cause, and the fans were excited, and Carina and Chuck had kind of pleaded with her too, but that was all she'd have to do with Graham.

Amy looked…frightened at Sarah's suggestion. _Good._ Carina and Zondra must have come to the same conclusion because they both gave their assent with a snicker.

"We're going out for drinks," Sarah announced leaving Amy with Graham.

Sarah and Zondra would have follow-up interviews to go through with the FBI the next week, but they'd been cleared to go for the night.

The three CATs and Chuck, followed by Beckett and Castle, said their goodbyes to the Fringe team, wishing them good luck in whatever crazy things they'd encounter in the future and thanking them once again for saving their lives. Zondra even hugged Olivia in a spur of the moment.

"You sure," Chuck said, as they all exited the room that none of them would forget, "about this thing with Amy?"

Sarah shrugged. "I don't really care for reliving this whole thing, and I don't think the girls do either. After all this time, what good would that do, you know?"

Chuck squeezed her hand.

"Wait," Peter called behind them. He jogged to catch up. "Would you mind, uh, signing an autograph?"

He looked so sheepish, Sarah had to smile.

"For Olivia," he said.

"Sure," Zondra said. She was smiling too. "Tell you what, give us an address, and we'll send you a signed poster or something."

"Yeah?" Peter said. "That'd be great!"

He fished his phone out of his pocket to exchanged information with Zondra.

"No love for the best-seller author?" Castle said. "I'm hurt, Peter."

"Actually," Beckett replied, "I already arranged that." Castle gave her a puzzled look. "What? You were busy catching up, and it's not like you usually don't appreciate the reconnaissance."

Castle seemed to ponder the thought, before tilting his head to the side in agreement.

"We'll be at Carter's across the street, if you want to join," Carina told Peter before he left. "Kate, Rick, meet us there in half an hour?"

The couple agreed, and they all separated so that the CAT Squad would take a well overdue shower.

"Who knows," Sarah told Chuck with a smile as he closed the door to her dressing room, "maybe the CAT Squad will release a fourth album as a trio."

**Fin.**


End file.
